Something special ahead of the 100th meeting between the Orange and Hoyas
Tomorrow, the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team celebrates their rich history with the Georgetown Hoyas in the teams’ 100th all-time meeting. The rivalry has produced so many iconic moments and our staff will take you through each of our favorites.
Mike: 2006 Big East Tournament Semifinals
As the Scranton rep in the room, I can’t not pick one of the defining moments of Gerry McNamara’s Syracuse career. With under a minute to go and the Orange down four, G-Mac again puts the team on his back, drains his fifth three of the night, locks down on the other end, and dishes off the game-winning pass to Eric Devendorf for an easy layup.
SU would go onto defeat Pitt the next day for their fifth and final Big East Tournament Championship.
Kevin: 1992 Big East Tournament Final
I’ll stay in MSG with this one. It was my sophomore year and we had a weekend in late February in the Dome where the Orange indoor track team won their 1st and only Big East title over the Hoyas on Saturday, but Georgetown beat Jim Boeheim’s squad on Sunday. Fast forward a couple of weeks and Syracuse entered the Big East Tournament on a two-game losing streak, but after knocking off Villanova and Seton Hall, they got a rematch with Georgetown in the title game.
That’s when Dave Johnson hit this game-winner over Alonzo Mourning to give Syracuse the title.
1992 Big East Tournament Championship flashback Syracuse vs Georgetown Dave Johnson with the game winner. cc: @vintagesportstv pic.twitter.com/jkEOSuwk5i
— Big East Rewind & Hoops 24/7 (@bigeastrewind) March 19, 2017
Szuba: Syracuse over No. 9 Georgetown at home, 72-58 (2007)
It’s hard to pick against classics like the 2006 and 2013 Big East Tournament games, but I’ll go with Syracuse taking down a top ten and eventual Final Four Georgetown team led by Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green. There’s so many good games to choose from, but I’ll go with a deep cut here as I was at this game as a high school freshman.
This was a Big Monday game on ESPN that had over 25,000 fans. Demetris Nichols had a big night and it’s around the time Andy Rautins was moved to a starter and began to seriously emerge as a shooter. Syracuse jumped out to a big lead in the second half and put this one away to snap an 11-game Hoya win streak. After being booed by fans earlier in the season, Darryl Watkins and Terrence Roberts stood up on the scorer’s table high-fiving fans who stormed the court after the game.
That game was one that denied Georgetown a Big East regular season title and more importantly, was thought to vault Syracuse firmly into the tournament. This was the infamous snub year where the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee seemingly forgot about a 22-10 Syracuse team.
Dom: Pearl Washington calls game
Flashback to the middle of the 1985 season. Georgetown sits No. 1 in the AP poll heading into a late-January battle between Syracuse great Pearl Washington and the Orange. The Hoyas, led by senior center and future No. 1 pick Patrick Ewing plus four future NBA players, end up going 35-3 (14-2 in the Big East) on the year.
The game is famously known in the long-time rivalry for a Syracuse fan chucking a literal orange at the backboard while Ewing was at the free throw line. The moment that isn’t even available as its own clip on YouTube: with G-Town up 63-62, Washington gets the inbound on the left side of the court in front of a packed Carrier Dome with around 15 seconds left, backs down and hits what ends up being the game-winning mid-range shot. The fans stormed the court in a heartbeat and Syracuse earned its first win against the AP No. 1 team.
(Writer’s note: this full game is available on YouTube. Go to the 15:04 to see the orange hitting the backboard and 1:18:35 to see one of the wildest endings in college basketball totally lost in history)
Honorable mention: in 2010, No. 5 Syracuse at one point takes a 23-point lead (60-37) with 12 minutes left in the second half versus No. 10 Georgetown on the road. The Hoyas stormed all the way back to only trail by one with a minutes to go, but the Orange hang out. Vividly remember that being one of the first college basketball games I remember in full.
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What’s your favorite moment from the rivalry?